In an attempt to narrow the gap with Team Eggnogbelly we spent a gorgeous day out geocaching north central Indiana. I tried to find some caches in interesting places and planned out a path that would eventually take us to a Guinness World Record holder. We grabbed a few standard finds and then found ourselves at the home of Ernie, a retired metal worker. Ernie has created a ton of metal sculptures that covered his farm. The cache was guarded by this little creature.
The cache description said that Ernie was incredibly welcoming to visitors. We pulled into the driveway and was greeted by Buster, the family dog. Ernie was working outside on a new creation. He smiled and waved. We got out, introduced ourselves and told him we were out geocaching. Ernie told us a little about his creations and invited us to walk around the property. We strolled all around the farm taking in the fun artwork.
After walking the grounds Ernie showed us his motorcycle, Model A, and his fan bike. It was a bicycle with a huge fan attached to the back. I asked him how fast it would go. He said it would get up to about 30 miles per hour, but then it started to get a bit wonky on the road! Keep in mind Ernie is 89 years old! We spent some time visiting and when it was time to leave we were told to come back anytime and bring our friends. Such a fun time with an interesting person!
We moved on to a couple parks and nature preserves and kept racking up the numbers. Some finds were fairly standard, some in some interesting locations (like this stump on the side of the road). One was at a location that prompted a short history lesson. We stopped at a cache that was located near the grave of Ryan White. It led to a discussion about AIDS, understanding, and compassion.
We stopped by an artesian well. The sping water was cold and clear. It must be a popular stop because several people came to fill up jugs and bottles while we were there.
Our journey led to Alexandria, IN and to world's larges ball of paint. This 5,000 lb monstrosity started out as a baseball. Forty years ago Mike Carmichael began adding paint one layer at a time. After 25,644 layers this is what it looks like. Rachel picked a color, Mike loaded up some rollers and we got busy adding another layer.
After our coat went on we each signed the guestbook and were presented with certificates stating which layer we had put on the ball. Just like that Rachel, Dusty, and I were part of the world record! We headed the car back to Brownsburg grabbing caches along the way. All told we found 44 geocaches in about 9 hours. The best part...meeting interesting people and making some fun memories.
